Bids opened for demolition of Orwigsburg St. property

JOE PLASKO/TIMES NEWS The Borough of Tamaqua received five bids for the demolition of this property at 311 Orwigsburg Street.

By JOE PLASKO jplasko@tnonline.com

It will cost the Borough of Tamaqua at least $30,000 to tear down a dilapidated Orwigsburg Street property, according to bids submitted for the work.

The borough received five bids for the demolition of a house at 311 Orwigsburg St. The bids were opened at the borough hall Wednesday afternoon.

The targeted property is located in the borough's South Ward, in a block near Tamaqua Area High School.

"It is a deteriorating property that was neglected," said Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt. "The borough took over ownership from the county after it had been exposed for tax sale."

Steigerwalt explained that the house had been put up for auction by the county, which required a minimum bid of $25,000, but no bids were received.

"No one bid on it, and it went into the county repository. We bought it for $330 because we heard there was some interest in it," he related. "We then put it up for public auction in September, but there were no bidders. Council had indicated that if there were no bidders for it, we would demolish it."

Nine firms originally expressed interest in the demolition job at a pre-bid meeting, and five submitted bids, which were opened by Steigerwalt, Assistant to the Borough Manager Bill Willing, Project Manager Daniel Schroeder and Councilman Steve Tertel.

The apparent low bidder for the work is Grand Prix Excavation, Claremont Avenue, Hometown, which bid a total of $38,000. That includes $10,000 for the demolition and disposal of waste materials and $20,000 for the rehabilitation of exposed walls.

Other bids received were as follows.

Northeast Industrial Service, Shamokin, bid $34,490, including $17,900 for demolition and $16,590 for rehabilitation of the walls.

Penmar Services, Northampton, bid $37,200, including $17,400 for the demolition and $19,800 for the wall rehabilitation.

Brdaric Excavating, Luzerne, bid $38,000, including $20,000 for the demolition and $18,000 for the wall rehabilitation.

Shea Industries Inc., Clark Summit, bid $43,428, including $25,200 for the demolition and $18,228 for the wall rehabilitation.

"I'd say those were pretty good bids," said Steigerwalt. "We did a demolition on Railroad Street in the middle of the block like this and it ran between $40,000 and $45,000, so we estimated this would come in around $40,000."

Steigerwalt added the bids will be reviewed and submitted to council for consideration at a meeting this month.